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Taking the lead.... was not something Sova fancied doing. However, most of the group he was with didn't quite seem capable of leading the way and he didn't want to make Mirage have to do it, so he decided to do it himself. No one seemed to complain, so all seemed well.... then they reached the end of the hall they'd gone down, with a fairly normal-looking door. He pushed it open to find what appeared to be the inside of a cylindrical tower, with a stairway spiraling up along the single, circular wall. He looked up to see there were torches lined along the wall in the same pattern as the stairs. The lights clearly continued very far up, but he couldn't seem to see the ceiling. Was it really that far up, or was this just some kind of optical illusion created by the house?

"Uuuh.... I hope no one's afraid of heights," he said to the group as he held the door open for them, still staring up.None of them could fly, so this place seemed pretty dangerous for everyone in the group. They would likely get to a point where one wrong move could condemn someone to.... death. He wasn't too worried about it being his own death, but some of the members of their merry little group were probably nowhere near as experienced as him.

Krikka followed along, trying to stay in the middle of the group so that if anyone got attacked, it wouldn't be her. She looked in her bag as she walked to see if Plush-Vee was still there, and sure enough, it was. Maybe there'd been a Ghost-type trying to scare her using it before, but it didn't seem interested in moving anymore, so whatever had been going on with it didn't seem to be going on anymore. That didn't matter, though, she was fine with just having the plush doll with her.... it looked nice.

The eevee then turned her attention to her chest, rubbing it with a paw to feel her burn. She could barely feel it, maybe all those Oran berries she'd gotten Sova to give her had helped! The black marks of the burn on her fur had also begun to fade and she no longer felt half-crippled, it was almost like she was as good as new. Of course, she didn't quite feel perfect, but it was at least better than the state she'd been in directly after her fight.

The shuppet floated down as if falling off the glaceon's head before pulling up quickly in a "U" shaped flight path. It floated in place as it watched Sova with a rather amused look, seemingly unfazed by the threats of the glaceon. It smiled, "Have you really explored all of this continent? Where is your proof? How could you POSSIBLY know so much? Maybe if you had a wrinkle or two I'd be more keen to believe you." The shuppet's body began to glow purple as it spoke, a shadow shooting out from its own shadow and racing towards the Glaceon's. Thanks to the small distance between them, it gave the glaceon little time to react or notice to the Destiny Bond the shuppet was setting up.

Mirage did not notice the small attack, and instead stayed at her wall and allowed the two to chat. She did not know what to do, she did not know what to say. She could only sit there and try to determine what the hell she should do with her life. What was her point in living now? She supposed she could start...she did not know, helping others? Try to make up for what she had done? Who would believe her though? She was screwed. There was no way out of it was there?

--

Victoria glared at the houndoom as it asked if it could eat her. She was tempted to simply snort at him and accept the challenge. Her mind tracked back to the time the pillars of flame had blasted through the wall. Maybe challenging him was not the best idea? That and her only good move against him would probably end in bringing this entire room caving in upon them if the house decided to ruin its own supports.

Instead she turned away with a joke, "How about I eat him?"

"Boss would not like that," Zera found himself responding. Boss was kind, Boss would not let him die. The houndoom's tail began to raise up and arch as the point of it pointed at the two, taking on an aggressive stance. He did not take it as a joke, and was legitimately feeling as if the tyrunt was threatening him. The houndoom's eyes narrowed as his face took on an angered pose.

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Annoying shuppet. Sova continued to glare at the creature as it failed to heed his request. He noticed that it had decided to bind its own well-being to him, but he didn't really care about this. His ability to bring misfortune upon others was not limited to things so trivial as pain.... "You know what? You're right. I don't have any proof," he admitted, lightening his tone just barely enough to look like he was serious."So let me give you a token of my gratitude...." he continued, reaching a paw into his bag as he spoke.

The shuppet opened its annoying mouth to speak, and he instantly shoved his paw into its face, sending a Totter seed down its throat. Hopefully, this would shut the little annoyance up, at least for long enough for him to console Mirage. He simply did not have the options of dealing with someone who wanted to pick a fight with him right now. As much as he just loved getting into arguments with random strangers about stupid things, right now was not the time.

Krikka fell silent for a moment as the other two became more and more hostile with each other. She needed them both at the moment, as she'd already learned she was not very capable of fending off the potential enemies in this chateau on her own. If they ended up fighting, she was in trouble.... She needed to stop them from fighting, but.... how? It took her a moment, but something finally dawned on her.

Was she pretty much the leader here? Victoria didn't listen to the houndoom and vice versa, but both of them seemed to care about her opinion and well-being, regardless of reasoning. She could convince them to do things.... Honestly, it was far from a good idea to give her power, but she wasn't complaining if this was the case. Time to test. She suddenly turned back to the path ahead and started walking again, speaking up in the process: "Lets go, no fighting."

-M-The shuppet was surprised by the sudden seed down its throat. However instead of swallowing it and becoming confused, the seed flew down its windpipe and it began to choke. The coughing and the hacking was practically mute to Mirage, as she was off in her own little world trying to figure out what to do with her life now. Everything was just so confusing now, before everything seemed like it was set in stone, but now there were so many possibilities, yet at the same time there was none at all...

She stared down at the floor, guilt over her actions beginning to sink in as well. How could she have been so blind? While she did not question why she did not listen to her parents, she did however, question why no other pokemon had bothered to tell her why things were not the way she thought besides Sova.

---V-Victoria huffed, turning away from the houndoom with a cross of her tiny arms, "I agree with Krikka's motion. It's useless to fight against allies, it would only hinder us." The tyrunt did not pay attention to the houndoom's reaction, and instead followed the eevee.

-Z-Zera was angered by the attempt at leadership the fluffy was trying to pull. She was not the leader here, Boss was! The houndoom launched himself forward, running past the tyrunt and the eevee easily before turning and blocking their path in attempt to force them to listen to him.

"Do NOT order me around. You are not "Boss" here, you are "Annoying Ass Furball that Boss likes for some Reason"! If you want to determine who's leader here then you'll have to fight me for it because I disagree! The strongest should be leader and you are CLEARLY not!" The houndoom snarled with intensity. The houndoom lowered himself, in a fighting stance and leaving his throat and underbelly covered in case the eevee did decide to attack him. It would be a quick and easy fight, especially considering the eevee looked weak.

-V-Victoria was beginning to grow rather annoyed with this mutt now. While she did not care who led or who did not, it seemed that this houndoom cared very much about this game of Follow The Leader. The tyrunt glanced in Krikka's direction, if she accepted the challenge then Victoria was surely going to participate in this battle for the leading spot. The houndoom needed to be put in his place, and she doubted the eevee could beat him especially after how far they had come.

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Krikka was happy to see at least one of the two agreeing with her and following, but one wasn't good enough. It seemed the houndoom had other plans in mind, putting himself in front of him in order to block their path. He seemed to think this was a personal matter and was trying to challenge the eevee to a battle. As fun as that sounded, she was pretty sure she wouldn't win, at least not in a straight-forward fight. However, she was also pretty sure he wouldn't attack if she didn't strike first, or he probably would have done it already. With this in mind, she just decided to walk around him, speaking in the process: "No one's forcing you to come; if you don't want to follow, then don't."

Then the hound jumped in front of her once more. "Boss is," he bluntly stated.

This was getting very annoying very fast. Krikka tilted her head to the left and glared at the persistent brute. She could not fight him, but she knew someone who could. She really wanted to keep them both in good condition, but.... if this guy really wanted a fight, she figured Victoria would be more than willing to accommodate. As much fun as being the leader was.... she didn't mind Victoria being the leader. Especially since the tyrunt didn't seem to have any problems with listening to her.

The silver-furred eevee turned around and looked to her more reasonable companion with a bored and curious look. "Wanna be the leader?" she questioned and stepped out of the way of the houndoom, hoping Victoria would understand.She had gathered by now the tyrunt was no genius, but come on, she'd practically spelled this one out.

Sova stared in a very unamused manner as the ghost began to choke. He figured it was serious, but this didn't mean he cared all that much. It'd been annoying, it'd kind of asked for this, so he felt no sympathy for it. However, he did need to stop it from dying at the very least, so he decided to "help." He reached a paw up over the shuppet and dragged it down to the ground, essentially stepping on it to force the breath out of it.

Yes, this was unnecessarily rough, but he really didn't care. It wasn't rough enough to kill the annoying little thing, and that was all that really mattered to him. He wanted to get back to consoling his friend already, yet it seemed THE WORLD JUST DIDN'T WANT THAT TO HAPPEN. Did fate want Mirage to go full evil or something? Really, why were circumstances making this so difficult? Specifically, how was one little shuppet being SO MUCH TROUBLE?

-M-The shuppet spat out the seed thanks to the force of the paw. Once it was released, it shot into the air out of Sova's reach. The ghost type glared at the glaceon, "You tried to kill me!" it declared over-dramatically, "You'll regret this!" the shuppet growled before disappearing into the ceiling before Sova could say anything.

Meanwhile Mirage was doing the same thing she had been doing the past five minutes. She was stuck in a pit of thoughts, unable to think and simply unable to do much...

--

Zera had intercepted them successfully, the eevee suggesting that he did not have to follow if he did not want to. He gave her his reasoning, Boss said he had to. There was no defying Boss, but in Boss's absence a new leader needed to be determined until he returned. The eevee stepped down and asked the meatslab if she wanted to be leader. What was so wrong with him being the leader?! The houndoom growled, and waited for the tyrunt's first move as she shrugged in acceptance.

--

Victoria shrugged, "Sure, why not," she spoke before stepping forward. She turned back to Krikka "You might want to stand back...farther...farther...faaartherrr....there you go," she asked of the eevee, sending the fox back farther and farther until she had to raise her voice to talk to her. The tyrunt turned back to the houndoom, the canine allowing her the first move. His funeral.

The tyrunt charged forward, the houndoom suddenly charging forward as well. They looked as if they were about to collide, the tyrunt could spy a purple smog coming from its mouth. The tyrunt leaped into the air and slammed her large feet into the ground, causing the floor to quake erratically as she utilized Earthquake. The shockwaves crashing into the houndoom but fading away before they could reach the eevee due to distance. The houndoom yelped in surprise, purple gas erupting from his mouth as he breathed. The tyrunt avoided the purple gas, and gave the houndoom a good drop-kick utilizing stomp and smashed him into the wall.

"Done?" she asked the houndoom only to find that she had knocked him out completely.

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Krikka tilted her head to the left once more as she was requested to step back.... when.... she already had. But regardless, she did so without any complaints. Then again.... which.... well, she supposed it was reasonable just for the sake of safety. Then.... again.... She began to feel just a little bit worried about what Victoria was planning. Maybe an Earthquake? But how strong? Was the tyrunt intending on just taking the entire house down?? Well, she couldn't really say "stop" now, especially since if they stopped, that would make the houndoom the "winner."

The eevee continued backing away until the combatant was satisfied, then she took a seat to watch the battle. She was kind of far away now, but not quite far enough to make it difficult to tell what was happening. The two fighters started off seeming like they were going to collide in some epic showdown, but then the earthquake showed up and it went south for the Fire-type. He wasn't quite dealt with by that, which Krikka was a bit impressed by, but that changed fairly quickly. The houndoom was kicked into a wall, and she had to admit.... it looked pretty painful. She waited a moment to see if the fight was going to continue, but it seemed like it was very, very over.

Krikka ran back over to the victor, looking over to the loser to see he appeared to be unconscious. Well, that was overkill, and now they needed to wait for him to wake up....

....Wait, no they didn't.

"Good job, but that was kiiiiiiind of.... overkill. Would have been nice to keep him around for extra help, even though he's been the opposite of help so far," she spoke.Then the eevee started off walking back down the path she'd been on. She assumed they were going to keep going now that the pest was dealt with. Normally, she'd doubt someone's willingness to leave a group member behind, but.... Victoria really didn't seem too fond of the hound. She figured her new "friend" - AKA bodyguard - would agree that waiting for this guy to wake up wasn't worth it.

Sova continued staring with his same unamused expression he'd worn throughout most of this encounter as the shuppet got up and accused him of trying to kill it. It then proceeded to threaten him, but he really wasn't worried about anything a shuppet could offer. Sure, maybe it had friends and maybe they were stronger than it, but this didn't care him either. Especially not with an ally as capable as Mirage around. Speaking of Mirage, now that the annoying little Tumblr feminist stereotype pest was gone, he set his focus back on Mirage. Now he could finally get back to consoling his friend.... aaaaaaaand she seemed to have devolved into the average trauma patient in this short time-frame.

The glaceon sighed and slowly approached his friend, trying to remember where they'd left off and what he'd planned to say next. "Don't keep going down this road, because eventually.... you're gonna lose yourself. As long as you're still.... you, I'm always gonna be there for you. I hope that's worth the trade-off," he spoke as he neared the zoroark.He wished he had a hand he could offer her, but if he tried to do that with a paw, it would just be really, really awkward.

The tyrunt stared at the houndoom, obviously not have expecting this to happen, "I guess he was all talk and no bite," she commented before shrugging, "Thought he would have been able to take that, but its not like he would be useful anyways with how much he was fighting against us. We're likely better off this way."

She turned away from the houndoom and back to the direction they were going. It was time to keep going now that she had reigned supreme. While she did not plan on abusing this with the eevee, if the houndoom somehow found them again she could just remind him of the gap in power between them.

Mirage's eyes darted to Sova as he spoke, something about losing herself and continuing going down a path? She did not quite understand what he meant, but nodded her head as if she did understand. She wanted out. She wanted to get out of here. Go back to Shadowhue, go back to her den, and just think for a bit without disturbance. She got up and spoke, "We...should get going..."

THEN ANOTHER TUMBLR FEMINIST SHUPPET STEREOTYPE APPEARED

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Sova nodded in agreement with the zoroark at the suggestion of leaving, though he couldn't help but give a bit of a frown. He wondered what Mirage intended to do now, if she even had any plans for that yet. What if she was just going to decide she didn't care about being "good" or about him? No, he wasn't going to consider that an option, he'd felt Mirage was good enough to be his friend and that was all that mattered. But still, what was Mirage going to do now, after she'd lived her entire life under the belief she had to be "evil?" The glaceon wanted to help, as he had since the two had met, but he wasn't sure there was much he could do.

For now, maybe just cheering the zoroark up was the best place to start, and Sova knew just the thing! He stuffed his head into his bag and, after a moment of digging around, pulled a pink berry out. He was holding it in his mouth by the end of the stem because he wanted to give it to Mirage and eating something someone else'd had their mouth all over didn't seem very appealing. He didn't want to speak like this and end up sounding like an idiot, so he just moved a bit closer to the zoroark and looked down at the berry he was holding, then back up at her in an attempt to get the message through.

Krikka suppressed the urge to giggle at the tyrunt's remarks, but the began to wonder if she even needed to put up some "good girl" act around this individual. It seemed like Victoria was.... a little gray in the morality area; someone who wouldn't care about how mean she really was. Or, well, maybe just less than most, but still. Either way, for now, she was going to just keep trying to be nice. She didn't want to risk upsetting the only thing currently protecting her from this place.

"You seem pretty strong. Guess that kingdom of yours must be the real deal," she spoke.Walking in silence didn't seem to be appealing. She hoped to keep the conversation going for as long as possible. But she also wanted to know more about this supposed kingdom, since as far as she knew, she'd just recently agreed to follow Victoria back to it. It seemed nice to get a general idea of what she was getting herself into before just going off and doing it.

Mirage watched and waited as Sova suddenly started rummaging in his bag, picking through the contents before pulling out a rather familiar shape. The soft round berry was offered to her, the strikingly pink form making it fairly obvious as to what the item was.

A Pecha Berry.

He had remembered one of her few joys in life, and was now offering it to her. A rather gentle smile cracked across her face as she moved her hand over the berry to accept the offering.

"I'm stealing this," she said before taking the berry and holding it in front of her. She consumed the berry, not having needed it really and merely eating it to enjoy the taste. She kind of wanted to keep it, simply because it was a gift, however she also felt that she really needed something to bring her up, "Thank you."

--

Victoria snorted, "I wish, we're still really small. That's why I want the amulet so much. If anyone else comes to demolish it before we can really defend ourselves then we're finished. The amulet would be either a good bargaining chip or intimidation factor."

The tyrunt gave a sigh, "Not many pokemon around here seem to believe that kingdoms are an efficient way of living it seems. Something about democracy being more fair and how everyone gets a say."

The tyrunt looked back, checking to see if the houndoom was following again silently. To her satisfaction, and ever so slight concern, he was not.

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